Hello folks. I am about to get serious about black powder. I've got a bunch of maxiballs, some Goex FFFg, #11 caps, a T/C powder measuring tool, some store bought grease for the maxiballs, and 2 T/C Hawken Rifles. What else should I need? How do you know how much powder is in the measuring tool if its not marked with anything but little notches. I am guessing that it holds 50-120 grains with the 50 setting being the tool completely collapsed/closed. Help?

Oh my !! ..
You really are getting serious. Lots to ponder here and first off, your Hawken Model is rated for a may load of 120grns. You powder measure has a range of 50-120 as you have noted. You will be fine on your FFFG, and the #11's. May I suggest you start with a PRB and enjoy that for a spell. Nothing wrong with your Maxi's, I just always recommend PRB's to start with. May I also suggest the following;

No. 13 is made by, or rather marketed by, Thompson Center, should be available at any good black powder/muzzleloading supplier. Ballistol is made by, well, Ballistol. It's a little harder to find - you might have to look in the fishing supplies section. Both are mineral oil based cleaning solvents that are very good at cleaning the bore between shots in the field and even at home (although I prefer the soap and water for the latter). Many people, myself included for a few years, used Ballistol as a rust preventative between shooting sessions. I also use it as a dry patch lube, diluted 1:6 with water, then dried.

Make a nipple pick out of a thin piece of wire.

Patch jag is a jag with two thin coiled wires that will fish a loose patch out of the bore.

Screw jag has a wood screw or machine screw type of thread that you can use to screw into a ball that's stuck in the bore in the event of a failure to fire.

Scraper jag has a scraper on the end, kind of a thick blade you can use to scrape crud off the face of the breech plug.

Cleaning jag has ridges around the circumference that hold a cleaning patch when you push it into the bore.

Just go here and look around. Might also add a manual and TC would be more than happy to provide you one. 1- (603) 332-2333
Know that there are other internet sites that provide this material.
80 grns. is listed as the optimum load for PRB
90 grns. is listed as teh optimum load for Maxi-Ball
Keep your max load at 110grns.

I too recommend that you start out with the patched round ball.
This rifle is pretty accurate with the round ball, and this is the same load that Davy Crockett shot.
I have killed quite a bit of big game with my TC Hawken and the .490 patched round ball.

If you are really getting serious about muzzle loading, you would use something much better than a TC (not)Hawken, you would use patched round balls, not Maxi-balls and, most certainly, there would be no guessing about charges.
Find an experienced muzzle loader and get hands on expert advice.

Sounds like you know everything about it. Where do I send my $19.95 for your DVD?

I think I can probably figure this stuff out without straining my brain too much. I will never get rid of either of my T/C not-Hawken rifles. They were owned by my dad & my uncle. I'll use every one of the maxi balls until they are shot up. Then I may try some round .49's with a patch. As for the guessing about charges, that would seem to be a very surmountable obstacle. The conical maxi balls use 90 +/- and I'll start at 65 and work up. Maybe I'll be able to scrape by and manage to somehow kill a deer with my T/C Hawken rifles this deer season. It'll be tough, but I'm a trooper.

If you are really getting serious about muzzle loading, you would use something much better than a TC (not)Hawken, you would use patched round balls, not Maxi-balls and, most certainly, there would be no guessing about charges.

Serious in what way? If you dress in authentic pre-1840 fur trapper clothing and are a stickler for authenticity, you won't be happy with a TC Hawken.

However, you see a lot of TC rifles on the firing line of muzzle loading matches, many of them highly customized including slow twist barrels for patched round balls.
I have even won matches with the stock 1 in 48 inch "compromise twist" barrel using patched round balls.

I have found that Maxi balls don't group well until you reach nearly maximum loads, then suddenly they become quite accurate.

The Hawken is one of the best BP rifles you are ever going to find. I have one in .50 (perc) that I have been shooting since I received it in 1988. I have never had to do anything but clean it. It still shoots as good as the day I got it. It will last a lifetime, and TC is excellent hardware. I think you got hold of a keeper.

I found my 1:48 .54 cal T/C Hawken prefers a PRB to a conical, and shoots much better toward the upper end of the loading spectrum - 120 grains will typically put 'em all into two inches or less at 50 yards, and an inch & a half is more the norm.

If you are really getting serious about muzzle loading, you would use something much better than a TC (not)Hawken, you would use patched round balls, not Maxi-balls and, most certainly, there would be no guessing about charges.

The TC Hawken may not be a historically correct rifle but I have never experienced one that didn't shoot well, rb or mb with the right powder charge.

It's not the equipment that makes you a serious shooter, it's your attitude.

Not sure what rifle Lyman makes that is a perfect replica of one of J&S Hawken's products; I own two Lyman Great Plains Rifles and neither is a replica of a Hawken. They are very good examples of a typical 1870's plains rifle, but they are not by any means a true Hawken replica.

I also own T/C Hawkens; I think most of the purists are not so much unhappy with them as a rifle (for they are excellent black powder rifles) as they are with the fact that Thompson Center used the name Hawken to identify it. I suspect they'd agree it's a good, even fine, rifle, but it shouldn't carry the name Hawken.

If one really wants a true Hawken replica, contact the custom rifle builder Don Stith at the St. Louis Plains Rifle Co (http://www.donstith.com/). He's the only source I know of for that genre.

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